Full Count...

"I want to ask your permission to ask Beth to be my girlfriend. I really, really like her, and if you say yes, I give you my word as friends, that I'd never do anything to hurt her."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to marry her?"

"I haven't asked her, but I would someday if she said yes to me."

"Why are you asking me for permission?"

"Because we were friends for a long time before I even met her. I owe you that much. And you are her big brother, and her only family."

"I know that you love her. Love, us. You can be her boyfriend, but not if you get traded."

"Well, I don't plan on getting traded."

Matthew smiled at me. His work as a big brother was done for now. I was lucky to have him as a friend.

"I'm ordering pizza. Beth will be done work by the time I get home. Wanna come over for some?"

"Early class. Sorry, I have an early class."

"What about Friday or Saturday? I can pick you up and we'll all go to the game, then we can go home and hang out. You can stay over."

"I...I can't." There was something sheepish about the way he said it. Something wrong. Maybe not wrong, but not normal.

"Everything okay buddy?" He just looked at me. Embarrassment had taken over. He was shy about what was going on, but he had a devilish grin on his face. "Tell me you little shit."

"Hey!" There was a silence in the truck until Matthew turned so that he could face me. "Promise not to tell Beth?"

"Yes."

"No. Say it. Say, "I promise not to tell Beth." Give me your word."

"Wow. What's with all the secret stuff? Okay, I promise not to tell Beth a single word about whatever it is that you're going to tell me."

"Natalie, well, Natalie and I are going to play...strip poker. She is going to show me how. She's never played either, but she wants to with me."

I bit my tongue. The excitement had him shaking in the seat next to me. I had never met Natalie, nor had I heard much about her, but she sounded like a bad girl, in a good way.

"Well that sounds like a way better time than hanging out with me and your sister. You might want to learn the rules on your own, just so you are up to speed about losing your pants." His chuckles made me smile also.

Four blocks from Matthew's dorm room, I stopped and went into a 7-11.

"You want any snacks for your room, chips, pop, anything?"

"Doritos."

I put my arm full of goods on the counter and the clerk smiled at me in a way that only stoned California surfer dudes can. "Alright, "Home", now it's a party brah." He rang up my stuff and with a quick tap of my card, I was headed back to the truck. "Go Dodgers, brah." He was giving me the "hang loose" hand signal as the door closed behind me.

Matthew jumped when I put the bags down in his lap.

"What's this?"

"Look inside."

"Okay, I will when I get home."

"No, do it now." His eyes were huge. Checking the contents, he showed surprise and turned his full attention to me.

A 6 pack of tallboy cans of beer. 6 tall cans of some sweet syrupy cooler. 2 bags of Doritos. 2 cans of assorted nuts. 2 bags of chewy candy. 2 packs of gum, 4 boxes of assorted condoms, all different shapes, textures and flavors.

"What, what's, what's all this?"

"If you're entertaining a lady friend, you need snacks. And you told me that you plan on playing games, so if those games go into, shall we say, extra innings, you'll need to be prepared, and those will help you prepare."

"But, but which one should I use?"

"Don't get too far ahead of what might or might not happen, but if things do go that far, show her the options and give her a choice. Or use the one that you both like."

He couldn't stop staring into the bag. It was all pretty new to him.

"Joe, can I ask you a question?" Or more like 50 questions.

Matthew and I sat in the parking for the next hour. We went over the finer details of what a gentleman should or should not do. Matthew opened a box of Durex and rolled one down over his 2 fingers just so that he could get the feel and hang of it. He typed notes into his laptop, like he was writing a novel.

When he had filled his head and notebook with as much information as he could, his next question surprised me the most.

"Do you plan on doing that stuff with Beth if she says that she'll be your girlfriend?"

"Honestly, yes. But that's only if she agrees and wants to." I waited 5 minutes as Matthew scrolled through his notes.

"Fair enough."

We rode in silence for the remaining 4 blocks. His parting words were, "Please, not a word to Beth about any of this."

"Oh Buddy, I guarantee you that she won't hear about it from me." I held out my hand and he shook it. "Friends forever."

Beth was waiting for me when I got home. The pizza wasn't nearly as warm as it had once been, but it was more about the company than the food.

Snuggling together on one of the loungers, she told me about her day. When she was finished, she picked up her phone and showed it to me.

"Wanna see a text I got just before you showed up tonight?"

"Nope." And I really didn't, but by the way that she was smiling, I knew that she would show anyway.

"Okay, I'll read it to you." I started to say something, but she put her soft hand over my mouth. "It's from Matthew by the way."

"Joe likes you a lot. He asked me if I would give him permission to ask you to be his girlfriend and I said yes, so I think he's going to ask you. If you say "yes", be careful. Lots of other stuff goes along with having a boyfriend. Stuff you might not know about and might not like doing."

Well there was no way that I would have mistaken that text to be from anyone other than Matthew. I laughed but gave him credit for being all big brotherly.

"Well?" She had spun up onto me. Sitting just over my crotch, the hair of her ponytail was dangling down nearly touching my face.

"Well what?"

"Is that true?"

"Every word."

"What does he mean by "lots of other stuff"?"

Pulling her down I bit her neck then kissed her full lips. "I think he means kissing and stuff. He's your big brother. He's worried about you."

"Are you going to ask me Joe Plato?"

"Oh yes I am. I want you to my girlfriend now and forever, but you have to move into my room. I sleep so good when you are in there with me."

"Does Matthew know that I slept in there? Because if he does, that's the "other stuff" that he's talkin about."

"No. We never talked about that. I promise."

As she pushed my hardness into her, she leaned toward to kiss me.

"Good, because I don't want him thinking that his little sister does the "other stuff"."

Beth did move into my room. Unfortunately, she kept her clothes in the other room for the nights that Matthew would visit. Our daily routines continued, and we grew closer and closer. Every day was a new and exciting time.

The only thing missing is what had originally brought us together, Matthew.

Two Saturdays later Beth was making a salad while I grilled some fish. We had some music on and were enjoying the air temperature that had dropped below the point where paper would spontaneously combust, when my phone binged indicating I had a text.

"Babe can you get that?" Beth looked at my phone and picked up the interruption.

"It's from my brother."

"What's he up to?" I took a mouthful of iced tea to get some of the smoke out of my throat.

"Not sure. His text says, "The neon green ones. Definitely the green ones." What's that supposed to mean?"

The spray from my flying iced tea hit everything that stood behind her, but most of it trickled down the side of her face. I honestly almost pissed in my pants.

"Sor...oh my god, sorry. I, I, oh shit, Beth, I'm so sorry."

Beth used the soft hand cloth normally reserved for drying dishes and wiped herself dry. "There had better be a good story behind that." She was smiling but looked like she might snap me with the towel.

"Not one that you'll ever hear from me baby." Dropping the towel and the salad spoons she started toward me. The only thing that stopped her was another text coming in.

"Don't..." But it was too late. She had my phone in her hands and was reading her brother's next message.

"Really? Oh my god Joe. Did you put him up to this?"

"What? No. Whatever it is, no."

"Okay...and I quote. "Do you think Beth will be okay with Natalie coming with me to the house next weekend? Is it alright if we share my room? Stay in my room together". And that's a quote. It sounds like you know exactly what's going on. The next message shot me right in the foot. "Friends forever, right buddy?" Start talkin right now Plato."

"Next Saturday's an early game, maybe we can BBQ when I get home."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. Tell me what's going on with that, that, that Natalie person."

I knew that she was concerned for her brother. Is was to be expected. Years of them looking out for one another and then him moving away to start a new adventure, but so was she.

"Apparently you met her at the BBQ here. They're friends. From the sounds of things...good friends. Have you told him about us?" She lightly shook her head side to side. "I think it's time to have a talk with your brother. Tell him that I asked you to be my girlfriend, you said yes and now we're living as a couple."

"But, but what about all the other stuff?"

"I love you...but I can't tell you. He will soon enough, but it isn't going to come from me."

Dinner was a quiet affair. She wasn't upset, but she wasn't talking.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just having a hard time thinking about my brother in a relationship."

"He probably thinks the same thing about you. Don't over analyze it. It will all work out."

The "fateful" weekend, as Beth described it, finally arrived.

We drove over to the school and picked up Matthew and Natalie on Friday night. It was the first time that I had laid eyes on her, and I had to say that I was happy for my little buddy.

Natalie was a short, cute brunette. She was far more talkative than I was used to with Matthew. At first, I thought that it was because she was nervous to be around us, but no, she just loved to talk. And talk she did. There were times that we believed she might pass out due to lack of oxygen from talking so much, but no such luck. Beth and I stared at each other when the pitch of Natalie's voice changed as she gasped for air between words.

She left no detail of her life untold. Born and raised in California. Parents still married unlike so many of her friends. Her father took them all out to celebrate recently when he paid off the family mortgage on the house. They went for Chinese, her mom's favorite. She has 2 sisters, 1 brother, a dog and had a cat that sadly, had to be put down due to old age.

Natalie didn't really like school, ever. But now that she was in the group that she was now, she could tolerate it. And now that she had found the love of her life, it was the best school in the world.

Apparently, Matthew is her third boyfriend. Bobby or Robert was her first. He was in grade school. They were in love and both had thought that they would be together forever. Unfortunately, it only lasted about 4 years, until his family moved to Texas. Considering she was still in grade school, Natalie was far too young to move there with him. Her second boyfriend was Stanley, it didn't last long at all, maybe 6 months according to her. She just couldn't stand his name. His last name was Addly, and there was no possible way in the world that she could ever live with the name, Natalie Addly. It just couldn't happen. No, he had never asked her to marry him. But what if he did? They were only 13 when they broke up. After Stanley there was no one that she would even consider to be boyfriend material. No one liked how much she talked. That was until Matthew came along. How could she resist his charm? He is handsome, funny and wicked smart. I laughed when Beth reached across the console, squeezed my hand and asked if we had enough wine for the weekend.

BBQ, cake, and drinks hit the spot. The 4 of us hung around the pool and firepit. Natalie surprised us all by helping herself to coolers out of the fridge. She had 2 or 3 and told us that she loved the fruity taste. Unfortunately, the more she drank, the more she talked.

Drifting off to the deeper end of the pool, Matthew and I got far enough away from the girls.

"Buddy, she's cute."

"You think so?"

"Oh yeah. Real cute. Does she ever let you talk?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes, not." The humor wasn't lost on me. I wanted to pry and ask questions about their relationship, but I didn't.

"So, is she officially your girlfriend?"

"Yes. She said that after we did what we did, she is almost like my wife."

"Well good for you. You make a good-looking couple. Talking about, doing what you did, how are your supplies holding out?"

Matthew looked down the pool to where Natalie was chewing off Beth's ear.

"All the chips and stuff are gone. She likes that kinda stuff. We used..." There was a long pause while he looked back over toward the girls. "We used 5 of the green ones." The slapping noise our hands made from the high five caused Beth to look over, and from the look on her face, she knew why we were high fiving.

"We'll pick up a bunch of that other stuff Monday when we go back, but we'll keep the "other" supplies quiet until it's just you and me."

"Deal." His head turned again to see who, if anyone, was listening to us. "Joe, Beth told me that she's your girlfriend." I nodded affirmation. "She says that she in living in your bedroom with you." Another nod. "And that she loves you. So, you better be good to her and not get into any more trouble." Big brother had just given me "the talk".

"Those days are long behind me. I won't let you down buddy. I plan on marring your sister someday. Who knows, maybe we can have a double wedding in Hawaii." Mathew's head tilted as if inquiring who I meant. "You know, me and Beth. You and Natalie."

"Hah. Don't tell her that."

"Who?"

"Natalie."

"Why?"

"Because, when she..." He looked over once again. "When she was in my bed one time, she told me that she wants to get married in Hawaii someday. So, don't joke and tell her what you said, or we'll be on a plane in the morning."

"Matthew."

"Yes."

"I want..."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"You can marry my sister. I know she loves you. Because I've never seen her happier."

Natalie and Matthew headed off to his room, while I put away all the leftovers and cleaned up. The pool lights were out, casting a darkness over the yard. But the distant lights from a city that seldom sleeps gave off enough light to maneuver effortlessly.

Beth was already in bed when I got there. I could smell a hint of the minty toothpaste that she had used as I curled up beside her. I slid my hand over her belly and pulled her close.

"Don't even." Her stopped me in my tracks, but she held my wrist, not letting me pull away from her.

"What?"

"Don't give me that Mister Innocent stuff. Natalie told me about a certain someone that provided my brother with what she called, protection."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yes you do. And that's what has me worried. I'm not sure if I should be mad at you or love you even more."

Moving her hand up to allow my palm to cup her firm breast, I said, "I'll go for the love me even more option."

"I bet you would mister."

The night table on my side held the black box with gold lettering. The Harry Winston logo embossed on the front.

Beth's eyes glazed over with tears immediately when I held it out to her. She knew what was in the box.

"I asked his permission. He knows how much I love you. He knows that you are the best thing that will ever happen to me in my lifetime. Beth, please make me whole. Please be my wife."

Her soft "yes" was breathed into my mouth, when her salty lips pressed against mine.